The first clue that Sh*t My Dad Says is going to be a big pile of poo? That nasty little asterisk in the middle of the Shit. Sadly, William Shatner, a man who became the popular favourite for Canada’s next governor general and can even make fibre commercials funny, can’t govern himself out that flaming paper bag of a script, with its watered down one-liners and cliched set-up. The entire point of Justin Halpern’s Twitter feed, Shit My Dad Says, is that his father’s a cranky asshole, who doesn’t require a soft touch. The crusty old fart deserves a slot on HBO or Showtime, rather than a boring life sandwiched between generic family comedies. The only bright side: seeing MADtv’s Will Sasso and Nicole Sullivan together again. Hopefully the failure of this show will stop the glut of Twitter comedies sitting on Hollywood producers’ desks.
This article appears in Sep 30 – Oct 6, 2010.